Menu

Are You Managing to Lead?

Today I received an email from a friend saying how they are fed up with the continual way their line manager treats them, with little or no respect. I hear this time and time again from friends and colleagues… when will managers realise, if they change their attitude, show genuine leadership and stop being administrators, they’ll get the results they desire.

Managers often say, “why doesn’t my staff do what they’re supposed to do?” the simple answer (and one they don’t like to hear), is because they either haven’t explained it properly, or they’re not showing genuine leadership, because if they had, their staff would do as they ask. Managers have Power & Authority, but that’s not enough, an uninspiring manager is someone that manages and administrates, a good manager shows leadership and does so by gaining respect and influence.

‘Power’ is derived from position, ‘Authority’ is derived from title, ‘Leadership’ is derived from behavior James R. Davis

We all remember teachers from our school years, and the really good ones stand out, because they were leaders. If you’re a manager, how do you want to be remembered by your past staff, the insignificant manager that administered, or the person that gained respect and made a real difference to those working with you?

Dwight Eisenhower defined leadership as “Convincing someone, to do what you want, because they want to do it.”

I’ve written about this before in my post Follow the Leader in essence it comes down to this Anyone can lead, it isn’t about having authority, it’s about gaining trust & respect through the correct behaviour.